In The News

Afghanistan Has New President; Vote Totals Kept Secret

Daniel Politi September 23, 2014
Afghanistan has concluded its first peaceful transfer of power, though the process with elections in April and June was possibly riddled with fraud and long-drawn with months of negotiations and costly recounts overseen by the United Nations. The outcome will lead to a new form of governance for Afghanistan as two finalists share power: Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai will serve as president, and opponent...

Scotland's Quarrel Is With Globalization, Not the UK

Gordon Brown September 22, 2014
Scotland rejected declaring independence from the United Kingdom, 55 to 45 percent. Businesses, investors and political leaders are relieved about some certainty moving forward. Many analysts credit the outcome’s wide margin to a last-minute, passionate appeal from former Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Those who fear globalization may “seek to insulate themselves against what appears like an...

Foreign Funding of Think Tanks Is Corrupting Our Democracy

John B. Judis September 17, 2014
Foreign governments donate millions to US think tanks to promote their positons, suggests a report in the New York Times. Research costs money; donors, foreign or domestic, may influence topics of research, sources and conclusions. “Washington think tanks, which were originally intended as a source of impartial, objective, and disinterested information, have become arms of foreign as well as...

China to Hong Kong: You Can Vote, We Select the Candidates

George Chen September 11, 2014
After Beijing’s promise of universal suffrage for the 2017 election, Hong Kong, which was handed over to China by the British colonial ruler in 1997, had anticipated more democracy. But China dashed such hopes by announcing plans to pre-approve candidates for the election of a chief executive, explains George Chen, financial editor for the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong and a 2014 Yale...

Immigrant Vote Could Sway Tight Scottish Independence Referendum

Lisa De Bode September 10, 2014
Scotland will head to the polls on September 18 for a referendum on independence from Great Britain, and immigrants could represent one in five likely voters. Like other Scots, immigrants are divided. Ending the 300-year union with England and Northern Ireland would have economic and political consequences, reports Lisa De Bode for Al Jazeera America, including reduced power of the Labour Party...

Companies Fear Radical Turn in Argentina

Benedict Mander August 25, 2014
Argentina has defaulted on its bonds twice since 2001. The country had settled with most bondholders, but the terms of some loans required disputes settled in US courts. A US judge sided with the minority, ruling that Argentina could not avoid the holdouts. A defiant Argentina swiftly responded with a swap plan to continue paying most creditors, but not the holdouts. Foreign firms doing business...

Hong Kong Votes, Beijing Fumes: Analysis

Dylan Loh Ming Hui July 3, 2014
A global finance capital is in turmoil over how to organize an election set for 2017. Beijing plans for universal suffrage in Hong Kong with a slate of candidates approved by a 1,200-member pro-China committee, explains Dylan Loh Ming Hui, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, in Eurasian Review. Occupy Central wants the nominating process to be open. China blasted an unofficial...